The Battle Of Identity by Pastor Poju Oyemade: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Battle of Identities

Continuing on the subject of the new creature in Christ Jesus, there is a very important aspect — the battle of identities. This is where the real foundation of what we term spiritual warfare lies. The real battle is a battle of identity.

Christianity is not that Jesus came to tell the same person: here are my laws, here are my principles — now begin to live according to them. That is not the starting point of the Christian message. The Christian message is that there is a fundamental and radical change — the old man that existed inside this body, under the judgment of the sin of Adam (in the day you eat of it you shall die), was executed in Christ Jesus. He died and ceased to exist. And you became a new creature in Christ Jesus, in whom all things have passed away and all things have become new and all things are of God. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

You are born of an incorruptible seed, which is the word of God that lives and abides forever. (1 Peter 1:23) There can be no improvement that can be made on the work of God inside that new man. He is created in righteousness and in true holiness, described as God's workmanship in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 4:24, 2:10) So a new man came into existence that now lives inside the same old body.

The Soul Is the Battleground

The soul is where the spirit expresses everything in our day-to-day life. Now because the soul has not changed: the old man had written a program within the soul — how to behave, how to make decisions, how to respond to things. That program is still inside the soul. So now the new man engages in what is called the renewing of the mind, which is the reprogramming of that soul, so that it begins to reflect and can express the new life that resides on the inside.

Christianity at its basis is very radical and transformational — a new man came into existence, and that is the real you. In John 3:6-7, when Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about being born again, Nicodemus thought the man in the flesh must go back in and come back out. Jesus replied: that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. You must be born again. The new birth is a spiritual event — a spirit man was born, a new creature came into existence.

The Real You Is Spiritual

So Christianity at its basis is: the old man died, a new man was born, and that new man now has to engage in the process of renewing the mind — reprogramming the soul to stop running the old programs and start expressing the new nature within. This is where the battle is. Will you live from your new identity as a new creature, or will you keep living from the old programs that are still running in your soul?

This is the battle of identities. It is not primarily fought out there — it is fought first within, in the reprogramming of how you see yourself, how you think about yourself, and how you respond to life from who you truly are in Christ.